Ace Combat : Shadows of War
by Alteric
Summary: In a war torn land, two nations fight in a seemingly endless war. The pilots of one wing, live through their own hells in this war.
1. Chapter 1

**Ace Combat : Shadows of War**

Chapter 1

A lone figure was standing outside a hanger that was sitting on a military airbase, he stood at an even 6 foot tall with a slender but muscular frame, he has short white hair and light blue eyes. Most would think he was in his 50's because of his hair but he is only 38 years old, he looks up some as three jets in formation fly overhead. He leans back against the hanger and closes his eyes some, "Soon it will be time." He says softly to himself, a few moments later he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looks back and sees one of his wing mates.

A young woman standing at 5'2" with a slender frame, she has long raven black hair and dark blue eyes. She is 27 years old, "What is going to be soon?" She asks as she looks at him smiling some.

He smiles looking at her, "Nothing important, just something personal." He says to her as he looks forward.

She nods her head some her smile fading a little as she slowly lowers her hand from his shoulder, she leans up against the hanger too as she looks down towards the ground some. "How long do you think this war is going to go on Alteric?" She asks kicking at the ground some.

He looks over at her some, "Don't know Jessica..." He then looks forward again, "...but such thoughts usually don't come across the mind of an old war dog like myself." He says smiling some.

She stops kicking at the ground as a light blush goes over her cheeks, "I don't really think you're that old..." She says softly.

He looks over at her, he smiles some. "Thanks." He says softly, he then looks forward some. He closes his eyes as he sighs, "Where are the others at?"

She looks at him, "Andrew is in the flight chamber training, Mark and Kimiko are in the mess hall eating lunch." She says to him.

He nods his head some, "Alright." He looks over at her some, he had a strong urge to reach over and touch her, but he didn't want to break her heart anymore then it already may from what he has to do. He then looks up suddenly as the blaring sound of alarms sound, "Looks like our time of rest is over." He says softly.

She looks up at him and nods her head some, "Yeah..." She says a little sadly.

The two of them then head into the hanger and get into their flight suits, they are shortly joined by the others in their wing. A young woman with medium length red hair and light green eyes, standing at 5'5" with a slender frame and 27 years old; a young man with short spiky blonde hair and dark green eyes, standing at 5'10" with a slender but muscular frame and 28 years old; and another young man with short streaked back black hair and black eyes, standing at 6' with a slightly muscular build and 29 years old.

Alteric looks over at them, "Its about time the three of you joined us." He says looking at them as he climbs up into his aircraft the Falken.

The young man with the black hair looks over at him, "Yeah, Yeah. Its hard to hear out of the Flight Chamber." He then looks over at the other two, "Those two were probably lost off in their own world in the bunks." He says smiling some.

The other young woman, Kimiko, rolls her eyes some. She then leans over and kisses the other young man, Mark, on the cheek. "You're just jealous because you don't have anyone." She says looking at Andrew.

Alteric looks at them, "That's enough, get suited up and get to your planes." He says sounding a little upset.

The three of them flinch slightly at his tone knowing not to waste anymore time, they quickly suit up and join Alteric and Jessica out on the runway in their SU-47's, the same aircraft as Jessica. Once all of them were on the runway he pushes his throttle forward and takes off into the air, the others follow him up into the air.

"Kaizer squadron prepare for combat, we have an unknown number of bogeys closing in on our base, your orders are simple. Eliminate all hostile targets before they reach us." The tower tells them over their radios.

"Kaizer one roger that, eliminate all hostile targets. Kaizer squadron engaging." He then pushes his throttle to full, the others do the same and they fly off to the engagement zone.

End Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Ace Combat : Shadows of War

Chapter 2

The five jets of Kaizer squadron scream across the sky as they speed towards the engagement zone, Alteric looks down at his radar. "I'm picking up 15...16...17 bogeys on radar, pick a target and lock on with your long range missiles." Alteric says as he picks out a target and locks onto it.

"Roger." The other four say as they each lock onto a separate aircraft.

"Kaizer one fox one." He then squeezes the trigger and the missile drops from his wing and fly off to its target.

The other four call out their shot and their missiles all fire off at the same time, the five missiles streak across the sky. Each missile finds their target sending the planes they hit downwards as giant fireballs, the other jets go active and break off and fly towards them.

Alteric looks ahead, "This is Kaizer one I can see four long range heavy bombers, the fighters are escorting them." Alteric reports back to the tower.

"Roger that, those bombers are of the highest priority, you must take them down before they can get within range of striking us." The tower says to them.

"Roger that." Alteric says then flies in marking an enemy fighter, he gets around behind him and sprays the rear of his plane with bullets. The engine becomes filled with holes then explodes, tearing apart the one wing. It spirals out of control down towards the ground, Alteric then moves on to the next target.

Jessica arcs through the sky as she follows after an enemy jet, bullets are streaking across the sky from her jet as her shots just miss. She holds onto the flight stick tightly as she follows after the jet as it spins through the air, she keeps firing her guns at the enemy jet in front of her. Her bullets rip across its wing it throws the plane out of balance and she aims at its engines and opens fire again ripping its engines apart, black smoke starts to billow out of its engines as it spirals out of control towards the ground. She's about to let out a small cry of triumph when suddenly alarms started to sound in her cockpit, she looks around some and sees an enemy jet on her tail. She looks forward and banks hard to the left trying to shake the jet chasing her, bullets whiz past the cockpit. She looks down as an alarm sounds and a red light flashes indicating a missile lock, her eyes go wide and she banks hard to the right. No matter how fast and hard she turns she can't lose the fighter on her tail, just as the enemy fighter is about to fire its missile it suddenly explodes as a missile strikes it from below.

Alteric then suddenly comes flying up past her, he looks over at her some. "Always keep your eyes open." He then breaks off engaging another fighter.

Despite the number of bandits it takes them less then a half hour to eliminate the remaining fighters and the four bombers, Alteric looks around some seeing only his wing in the air. "Kaizer one to base, all fighters and bombers have been shot down."

"Roger that Kaizer wing, all units RTB." The tower says to them. 

Alteric and his wing head back to base, as they arrive back home they land parking their jets outside their hanger. Alteric climbs out of his jet and climbs down out of it, he reaches up removing his helmet. He sighs some as he looks back seeing his wing mates climb out of their jets, he then tosses his helmet back up into his cockpit. He then walks off towards the barracks.

Jessica runs to catch up to him, she smiles looking up at him. "Thank you for helping me up there. "She says looking at him.

He looks over at her, "It was nothing, I was just glad I was able to stop them before they could fire." He says.

She smiles as a light pink goes across her cheeks, she then looks forward and down, "You were very amazing up there, I'm always just awestruck watching you in action." She says softly.

He smiles some hearing her, "Thank you, I just do my best up there, so I can keep the four of you safe." He says looking over at her slightly.

A light shade of red goes over her cheeks hearing him, "Thank you, that's why I'm so glad you're on our side." She says softly.

He looks over at her hearing her, he then looks forward looking down some, "Yeah..." He says softly, he then looks up some seeing the barracks. "Well this is where we split paths."

She looks up some then nods her head some, "Alright, I'll talk to you later." She then walks off heading back to her room.

He sighs softly watching her walk off, he heads into the barracks heading back to the showers. He heads over to his locker taking off his flight suit, he reaches into the locker pulling out his towel. He heads back to the showers and hangs his towel up so it won't get wet, he then heads over to the shower knobs and turns on the water. He looks down some as he lets the water fall down over him, he closes his eyes some as the water cascades down over his body. After a few minutes of just standing there he reaches over and takes some soap, he starts to clean himself off. Once he got all lathered up he lets the water wash away the soap, once cleaned off he turns off the showers and heads over grabbing his towel. He dries himself off as he moves back to his locker, once dried off he tosses his towel into his locker and pulls out the clean clothes he has in it. He reaches into the locker reaching into the pocket of a jacket he had in the locker, he pulls out a cell phone and flips it open. He inputs a phone number into it, then holds it up to his ear. "Alright its time………that's right prepare the Hresvelgr for flight………yes, I will be needing that plane……..alright." He then holds up his other arm and looks at the watch on that wrist, "…2400 hours till begin…….roger………see you there…." He then folds his phone back up and looks down at the ground sadly, "I will miss them….." He says silently as he leaves the barracks and heads back to his room.

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

**Ace Combat : Shadows of War**

Chapter 3

Alteric's eyes snap open and he sits up quickly as he hears a loud voice shouting outside, through his groggy mind the words sound jumbled together. He shakes his head yawning, he looks out the window as the voice becomes clearer.

"All active pilots report immediately to the main courtyard." The voice is coming over the speakers set up throughout the base, the voice keeps repeating the message with a pause of about one minute in between each message.

Alteric rubs his head laying back down, 'Ah hell...is it that time already?' He looks up at the wall clock seeing the time, "1800 hours until it's time..." He then sits up sliding his legs down over the side of the bed, he yawns again as he sits there for a moment. He stands up moving over to the dresser to pick out some clean clothes since he only had boxers on right now, he pulls out some clothes and slides them on. He then leaves his room and starts to walk off towards the main courtyard.

Along the way Jessica spots Alteric, she runs to catch up to him. "Hey Alteric, do you have any idea what they want?" She asks looking up at him.

He shakes his head some not looking down, "No, but it must be something important if they are calling us like this." He says looking forward.

She nods her head a little then looks ahead at the gathering group of pilots, she can see Andrew, Mark and Kimiko. "Hey guys!" She calls out to them waving her arm.

The three of them along with a few others turn looking at her.

Alteric sighs some as she does that, "You seem to like having attention on you." He says looking over at her some.

She blushes some looking at him, "Well..." She says softly, she then smiles looking at him. "...not really, the only person I want attention from is you." She says smiling as she looks at him.

He's caught off-guard by her comment and he looks away blushing slightly, he's left speechless for a couple moments. He then looks back at her, "Stop goofing around like that." He says to her looking at her.

She smiles looking at him, "Yeah, well you know you love my cuteness." She says smiling.

He's left speechless again looking away from her again, "...lets just pay attention to the announcement..." He says softly looking forward as Jessica and him get over to the others.

She nods her head looking forward as the base commander comes up onto the stage, the commander looks out at all the pilots who have gathered. "You all have been gathered here for one reason, over the last 0600 hours we have been noticing an anomaly on our long range radar. We have also lost contact with several of our bases along the outer rim of the border, we will be sending all of you to investigate this anomaly. You are dismissed." He says as he turns and walks off the stage.

Alteric, his team and every pilot there salute the commander as he walks off. Everyone then runs off to their hangers and get in their flight suits and into their jets.

Alteric rolls out onto the runway, he looks around some as he hits his throttle to full and takes off. The rest of his wing takes off after him, "This is Kaizer wing taking off." Alteric calls back to the base.

"Roger that Kaizer wing, good luck out there." The tower says to him.

Everyone shoots of towards the engagement zone, Kaizer wing leads the way into the engagement zone. Alteric looks ahead seeing the sky full of enemy aircraft, "All fighters pick a target and engage." Alteric says to everyone, everyone responds with a 'Roger'. "I can see at least six dozen fighters escorting six heavy bombers and eight tankers, there is also a jammer in the area." Alteric calls out as he looks around.

Jessica, Mark, Kimiko, and Andrew all call out roger, as they split away from him and target enemy fighters. The six other wings with them, consisting mostly of nuggets and pilots close to getting an ace rank, break off targeting enemy fighters too.

Alteric chases after a fighter firing his guns off at it, the fighter passes in front of tanker and Alteric sprays the side of the tanker with his bullets. He stops and pulls away from the tanker hard, he looks over at the tanker expecting an explosion but is surprised not to see one. 'What the hell...?' He thinks to himself, "All fighters stay clear of the tankers." He calls out as he resumes chasing after the enemy fighter.

The others call out roger as they dodge around the tankers chasing after their targets, the aerial battle continues on for nearly a half-hour until the enemy fighters start moving in an odd pattern.

Alteric looks around seeing the pattern, he can see the fighters and bombers starting to pull away from the tankers. He looks over seeing Jessica's fighter close to one of the tankers, 'Damnit...no...' He thinks to himself as he pulls his fighter in her direction, "All fighters immediately move away from the tankers!" He yells out as he punches his plane to full throttle.

Jessica hears him and looks over seeing him flying towards her at full throttle, she starts to pull away as the tankers start to explode. She looks around some hearing them explode, she looks over just as the one close to her explodes and sends out a volley of missiles. Her eyes go wide with shock then she looks away closing her eyes waiting for the impact.

Alteric looks ahead seeing the tanker next to Jessica explode, 'No.' He thinks to himself as he hits the afterburner and starts dropping flares, he leaves a line of flares leading away from her. The missiles that were going at her are lead away by the flares and lock onto him, he looks back seeing the missiles on him. 'Good...' He thinks to himself as he drops all his chaff in one burst and cuts his throttle down by half, the missiles explode when they hit the chaff. The shrapnel from the missiles rip through his engines, he holds onto the control stick tightly as his one engine is destroyed and the other is close to failing.

Jessica opens her eyes hearing the missiles explode, she looks around quickly realizing that she wasn't hit. She looks over seeing Alteric took the hit, "Alteric, are you alright?" She asks him her voice full of concern.

He lowers his head some smirking slightly, "Yeah I'll be fine...I still have an engine. I'm heading back to base..." He turns his plane back and starts to head back to base.

Jessica nods her head some, "Alright, I'll come with you." She turns her plane and starts to follow after him.

"No, you stay with the oth..." He is suddenly cut off as his remaining engine suddenly explodes, his plane starts to dive back towards the ground at a hard angle.

Jessica looks at him, "Alteric! Bail out quickly!" She yells out.

There is a silence from him for a moment, "I...an't...esca...atch broke..." He says his transmissions broken up by static, there is another few moments of silence from his end. "Goi...to..attem...ash landin..." His transmissions are broken up by even more static, then suddenly there is nothing but static as his plane hits the ground and slides along for several yards. Black smoke starts to rise from his crashed plane.

Jessica watches him anxiously, her heart nearly sank hearing about the escape hatch. She could do nothing but watch as his plane hit the ground, her heart dropped seeing this. "Alteric...Alteric! Please answer me!" She yells out as tears start to blur her vision some, she closes her eyes some as her hands clench tightly onto the flight stick of her plane.

Mark, Kimiko, and Andrew could only watch in silence as this all happened, Mark's grip on his flight stick increases in anger. He looks around at the remaining fighters, "Lets take them down." He says to Kimiko and Andrew, they look towards him and nod their heads. "Yeah." Kimiko says as she takes off after two enemies, she looks down and sees her radar is clear. "The jamming is gone." She calls out to Mark and Andrew, she then locks onto the two in front of her, she squeezes the trigger and her missiles fly off striking the two of them knocking them out of the sky. The three of them continue, taking down nearly all the enemy fighters in the area before they start to run away.

Jessica looks down at the wreckage of Alteric's plane, she reaches up and wipes away some of her tears. "Tower this is Kaizer Two...Kaizer One has been shot down...I repeat...Kaizer One has been shot down..." She says softly closing her eyes.

End Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

**Ace Combat : Shadows of War**

Chapter 4

Jessica sits up suddenly, she looks around seeing that she was in her room. She reaches up feeling her forehead covered in a cold sweat, she however soon noticed that her entire body was covered in this sweat. She slowly moves her knees up to her chest and hugs her knees, she leans in hiding her face behind her knees. She sits this way for a few moments before her body is shaken by sobs, "Why...? Its all my fault he was shot down...if I had been more careful...then he would still be here..." She says softly between sobs.

Meanwhile in their room Mark had not gotten any sleep, he laid there holding onto Kimiko. He looked at her reaching to her and gently moving some hair from her face, losing Alteric out there had gotten to him. He couldn't stop thinking about how painful it would be if he lost Kimiko, he was also afraid of leaving Kimiko in such a way. Such thoughts were really getting to him, almost to the point he was ready to leave all of this behind and go off somewhere where he and Kimiko could live in peace.

Kimiko slowly opens her eyes and looks at Mark, "Will you please tell me that what happened yesterday was just a dream..." She says softly.

Mark looks at her, he gently wraps his arms around her and holds her tight against him. "I'm sorry my love...but it wasn't.." He says to her softly.

Kimiko closes her eyes as tears form in the corner of her eyes, she holds onto him tightly. "I already miss him so much...he was so much like a father to me..." She says softly as she closes her eyes, as she starts to cry.

Mark nods his head some, "Yeah I know how you feel." He says softly holding onto her.

Andrew had been awake for a few hours, he was in the gym working out. He was punching at the punching bag, the thoughts of everything that just happened going through his mind. After several more minutes of punching at the punching bag he stops and goes over picking up his towel, he wipes away the sweat on his face. He sighs some and tosses the towel onto the bench, 'Damn man...why'd you have to go and get yourself shot down...if I try and go for Jessica now...they'll say I only did it now because of how vulnerable she is.' He thinks to himself, as he reaches up and rubs his head. He sits down on the bench leaning up against the wall of the gym.

It took Jessica almost to noon to get up the willpower to leave her bed, after getting her shower she headed off to the mess hall to get something to eat. Even though she wasn't sure if anything she ate would stay down, when she gets into the mess hall she could see Mark and Kimiko in there. Mark was looking out the window and Kimiko was looking at her food, more moving it around then eating it. She silently moves over to them, she sits down next to Kimiko. Mark and Kimiko look at her, after a few moments Kimiko drops her fork and leans in close to Jessica hugging her. Jessica closes her eyes tightly as she hugs Kimiko back, she could already feel the tears sliding down her cheeks again.

Mark moves around to the other side of Jessica, he reaches to her and gently rubs her back. "It'll be alright.." He says to her softly.

Jessica turns looking at Mark, she reaches up and wipes away her tears. "I've been trying to tell myself that all day today...it hasn't helped any so far...because its all my fault he's gone..." She says softly looking down.

Kimiko looks at her and shakes her head, "No its not, how can you think that?"

Jessica looks at Kimiko, "Yes it is...if I hadn't been so careless...he wouldn't have had to save me...why did he do that..." Jessica says as more tears run down her cheeks.

Kimiko reaches up and wipes away her tears, "He did it because he cared about you...because he loved you..." She says softly to Jessica.

Jessica's eyes go wide as she hears what she says, she then looks down closing her eyes. "Why didn't he ever tell me...I would have loved to hear him tell me those words..." She says softly before falling back into Kimiko's arms.

Kimiko closes her eyes holding onto her, she looks over at Mark some as she holds onto Jessica.

A few days pass, during which there have been a series of attacks on both allied and enemy fighter groups. The one doing this has yet to announce themselves, the scrambled reports that come back from the fighters under attack speak of an invisible fighter.

Jessica was standing outside the hanger that Alteric and her were standing outside less then a week ago, she looks up at the sky some. After a few moments she looks back down, she was holding onto Alteric's ace wings. She looks at it sadly as she brings her arm up holding it close to her chest, 'I wish I had something more personal of his to remember him...' She thinks to herself, she jumps suddenly when someone touches her shoulder. She looks over and sees Andrew.

He looks at her, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He says softly.

She looks forward and shakes her head, "No, its alright..." She says barely above a whisper.

Andrew nods his head some, "Alright...well we need you inside now so we can over some new formation ideas brought to us by the brain bank."

Jessica nods her head some and pushes away from the wall, the two of them walk into the hanger. As they are sitting down a pilot from another wing comes running into the hanger, "Hey guys, command has ordered that you hear this." The young man was carrying a small audio tape, the four of them nod their heads. The young man moves over to the tape player, he slides the tape into it and pushes the play button.

As the tape starts up there is nothing more then normal radio chatter between a group of pilots in a wing by the codename of Falcon. Soon the chatter starts to change, sounding more frantic. "This is Falcon One, I've picked up an unusual signal on the radar." Says a male voice, "Its him, its got to be him...what else could it be...!" A more frantic younger sounding voice says, "Calm down Falcon Four." Falcon One says to the young pilot, there was a few more minutes of radio chatter then suddenly there was silence from Falcon One. "This is Falcon Two, Falcon One has been shot down." Comes a slightly panicked voice, there was suddenly static from Falcon Two. "Where the hell did that missile come from?" Comes the frightened voice of Falcon Four, "Calm down Kevin...command we are bugging out now." Falcon Three says, "Roger that, RTB immediately." There's a few minutes of silence before the frantic voice of Falcon Four can be heard, "Falcon Three has been shot out of the sky, I...I didn't even see the missile on radar...I didn't even see the missile until it hit..." Falcon Four says, "I...d..don't want to die..." He says softly, then suddenly there was nothing but static.

Andrew sits up quickly, knocking his chair back in the process. "What the hell does command to do?"

The young pilot raises his hand, silencing Andrew.

A few minutes later, "This is Falcon Four...I have been given...a message...to deliver..." He says softly, "My codename is Shadow Wolf and I have a message for all warring contries, you will stand down and destroy all your tools of war. If you do not comply I will continue to destroy your tools of war, I will bring about a new age of peace. I have seen enough death in my lifetime, all those who do not comply will be cleansed from this world." The voice then stops, the voice is highly altered and unrecognizable. The young pilot stops the tape.

He looks at them, "Command has been debated on having a meeting with Yuketebonia, they are thinking of a joint operation to try and take down this Shadow Wolf. Until then they have set up an operation with you and other ace wings to try and engage this fighter." The young pilot says to them.

Andrew looks at him and clenches his hand, "So in other words command is using us as bait...they think because we lost Alteric we aren't nearly as good as we were..." Andrew says looking at him.

The pilot shrugs his shoulders some, "I'm not one to question command, I'm only the messenger." The pilot says looking at Andrew, he then ejects the tape and leaves the hanger.

Jessica was looking down, she started to look down when Andrew mentioned Alteric. She looks down at Alteric's ace wings in her hands, she closes her eyes as she closes her hands around it. "Alteric would not want us to hide cowering...he would want us to fight this Shadow Wolf..." She says softly as a tear slides down her cheek, she then slowly looks up. "...and as long as I am able I will continue to fight...in Alteric's memory." She says looking at them.

Kimiko looks at Jessica and nods her head, "Yeah, me too" She says as she looks at Mark and Andrew.

Mark looks at Kimiko and nods his head, "I'll always be right at your side my love." He says to Kimiko.

Andrew looks at Jessica and nods his head some, "Yeah you can count me in too." He says softly.

A few hours later Kaizer squadron along with several other squadrons find themselves in the briefing room waiting for their briefing, they were all silent, mostly for Jessica. Jessica was still holding onto Alteric's ace wings, she looks forward as she does her best to keep back her tears.

A couple minutes later the base commander comes in, everyone looks at him as he comes in. He moves the center front of the room, he turns looking at all of them. "All of you are our last resort before turning to Yuketebonia for a massive joint operation, now for this operation. You will all be heading up to the location that Shadow Wolf has been last seen, you will be split up all over the area so he doesn't shoot you all down at once. The lead wing will be Kaizer wing." He then looks over at Jessica, Kimiko, Mark and Andrew, "Since a new Kaizer One has not been named yet, Jessica you are now Kaizer One."

Jessica looks at him shocked, she then slowly nods her head. "Y-Yes sir." She says softly.

The commander nods his head, "Alright then, you have your orders. Now god speed to all of you, I hope you all return safely." He says then turns and walks from the room, everyone stands up and start to leave the room.

Jessica, Kimiko, Mark and Andrew are the last to leave the room, they all move silently to their hanger. When they get there they get dressed up into their flight suits, they move to their jets and take off into the sky.

."Flamingo One, all clear over here in sector one." A woman's voice calls out.

"Ibio One, all clear over here in sector two." A young man calls out.

"Absunder One, all clear over here in sector four." A man's voice calls out.

"Pelikan One, all clear over here in sector five." A young woman's voice calls out.

"Kaizer One, all cle..." Jessica starts to call out but stops, "Wait...what's that?" She says seeing something streak out of the clouds towards the Ibio team, her eyes go wide realizing its a missile. "Evade Ibio, its a missile!" She yells out.

Ibio pulls away from each other, the missile continues to fly down towards the middle of where they used to be. Just as it seems they have gotten clear of it, the missile explodes suddenly. Instead of the normal blast radius of a missile, it reaches out like the blast radius of a bomb. All of Ibio's planes are hit by the blast, they all fall towards the ground ejecting before hitting the ground.

Soft laughter can be heard over the radio, "Not bad, you're the first to ever spot that missile. But I should have expected as much from one of the Kaizer squadron." The voice of Shadow Wolf can be heard,, "However this does not matter, nothing will save you from me. All those who don't surrender now will be sweep from the sky." Shadow Wolf says.

Jessica looks around some, "All wings keep your head on a swivel and go into evasive maneuvers." Jessica calls out to everyone, everyone responds with a 'Roger'.

As they are flying around another missile arcs down out of the clouds, when this one explodes it knocks Flamingo one and two out of the sky. They also manage to eject before their planes hit the ground, "He's just toying with us!" Absunder three yells out, "At this rate he'll bounce all of us out of the sky." Flamingo four calls out.

Jessica clutches her flight stick closing her eyes, "Be quiet!" She yells out.

Everyone looks towards her jet, "Jessica..." Kimiko says softly.

Jessica opens her eyes looking forward, "Have you all really grown so weak and dependent on Alteric that you can't fight on your own? Well I'm not going to let him down and look down on me in shame, when we meet again I want his eyes to be full of pride." She says as a few tears slide down her cheeks.

Kimiko, Mark and Andrew look towards her jet and smiles slightly, "Yeah and the same goes for us." The three of them say.

Jessica looks back at them and smiles, "Thank you..." she says softly.

"How touching, now if you are done. Let's finish this." Suddenly a half dozen more cluster bomb missiles drop out of the clouds, the others are caught completely off-guard and are knocked out of the sky. "Now that the fleas are out of the way, I will deal with you four personally." Suddenly two hundred thousand meters away a massive sky fortress.

The three of them look at the fortress in shock, "Impossible...how the hell could something so big stay in the air!" Andrew yells out. "I don't know, but don't lose focus." Jessica says as she keeps her eyes forward.

A large hanger door on the bottom of the sky fortress opens, an upside down jet is lowered from the opening. "Shadow Wolf, prepare for launch." An unknown voice says over the radio, the jet is suddenly released and drops away from the sky fortress. The engines on the jet roar to life as it thrusts forward, doing a barrel roll straightening out. He kicks in his afterburners and flies off towards them at blinding speeds, "We shall end this now." Shadow Wolf says as he flies towards them.

Jessica clutches her flight stick tightly, "Right...Kaizer Wing engaging enemy." She pushes her throttle forward shooting forward.

Kimiko, Mark and Andrew all do the same following along behind her.

End Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

**Ace Combat : Shadows of War**

Chapter 5

A boy who looks to be about 12 comes running up a hill, he stops at the top of the hill looking up. He raises his hand shielding his eyes from the sunlight, he looks up into the sky as a group of jets draw dizzying contrails across the sky. As he stands there a young girl who looks to be about 6 runs up next to him, she looks up at the sky some. "What is that big brother?" The boy looks down at her, "It's a group of jets." He then looks back up watching the five jets, the young girl reaches up and grabs onto his hand. She flinches some as she hears the sudden boom from a missile exploding overhead, she looks up as she leans in closer to her older brother. The boy smiles some watching them, "It looks like its four against one.." He says softly watching them, the young girl holds onto his hand tighter as she looks up some. The five jets suddenly cut out of the sky and roar no more then 20 feet over them, the sound is deafening. The girl lets out a cry and covers her head as she leans up more against her brother, "I wanna go home big brother...I'm scared." The boy looks down at her, he really didn't want to leave but he could feel her shaking against him. He sighs softly and nods his head, "Alright Elizabeth." He crouches down and gently picks her up, he turns and starts to walk back down the hill. As he does Elizabeth looks up over his shoulder, watching the jets.

Shadow Wolf cuts across the sky shortly followed by Jessica, Kimiko, Mark and Andrew, Jessica squeezes on the trigger sending bullets spraying across the sky at Shadow Wolf. Shadow Wolf dodges around the bullets, he arcs off to the left. Jessica holds onto the flight stick tightly as she tries to stay on his tail, he suddenly swerves off to the right. Jessica pulls off to left and dives, she looks back some expecting an attack from him. She's surprised to see him pulling off to the other direction.

"Damnit he's just playing with us." Andrew's frustrated voice calls out over the radio.

"I hate to admit it but he's right." Mark says over the radio.

Shadow Wolf smiles and laughs softly hearing them, "You four really are hopeless without your true wing lead aren't you." He says to them.

Jessica holds onto the flight stick as she cuts around coming up behind him, she attempts to get a lock on him. "We fight in his memory and because of that we will win." She finally gets a lock on him, "Kaizer One fox two." She calls out as she fires off a missile, just before hitting him the missile banks downwards hard exploding harmlessly. Much like the other missiles they fired at him, "Why can't any of our missiles hit him."

"I'm done testing you,, the next time we meet I will take you down if you are not strong enough." Shadow Wolf said as he pointed his plane away from them, then pushes forward all the way on his throttle. His engines roar to life and his jet is off in a flash.

"Should we pursue?" Kimiko asks looking over at her plane.

Jessica closes her eyes as her hand clenches the flight stick tightly, "...no.." She says softly, "Let's return home...we don't have the fuel to follow him." She turns her jet back towards home base, the rest of them follow her.

A few hours later Jessica is sitting in the hanger watching a video, it is a video showing the recordings from all of their jets in that last dogfight. She leans forward some as she watches Shadow Wolf's flight patterns, "There's something...familiar about the way he flies..." She says to herself softly, she jumps when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She looks back and sees Andrew, "Oh hello."

Andrew looks at her then at the T.V. screen, "Trying to find a weakness in his flight patterns?" He asks as he rolls up another chair next to her, he sits down looking at the screen. "Any luck so far?"

Jessica shakes her head, "No...he's perfect...I haven't seen flying like his in a while..." She says softly.

Andrew reaches over and rests his hand on her hand, "Well if anyone can find a weakness in his flying I know you can."

A light blush goes across her cheeks as she looks down at his hand than up at him, she nods her head some. "A..Alright..." She says softly and looks back at the screen.

Andrew smiles some and lifts his hand away, he then stands up. "Well I'm going to head off to the training simulator, they took the flight data from our planes on Shadow Wolf and made a training program. I'm going to check it out."

Jessica nods her head slightly still looking at the screen, "Alright." She says softly.

Andrew looks at her and sighs softly, "You really should take it easy soon, you don't want to wear yourself out too quickly." He says before turning and walking from the hanger.

When he was gone Jessica looks down at her hand, she looks down and closes her eyes. She clenches her hands some, "If Alteric is really gone...maybe I should start to think about moving on." She says softly, she opens her eyes and looks back at the screen. She then shakes her head some, "No...if I give up his memory then he really is gone." She says softly, she stands up and moves closer to the screen. "The way he moves almost reminds me of Alteric...maybe I should try and track him down, maybe I can try and talk to him."

Kimiko is coming out of the shower, a towel wrapped around her body as she dries off her hair with another towel. "Man...how are we supposed to win a fight against someone we can't even hit...I wish Alteric was still here. He would know how to take down this Shadow Wolf guy." She stops letting the towel rest on her head, she takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes. She lets out a sudden gasp as she feels a pair of arms go around her waist, she looks back quickly and sees Mark. "Damnit Mark you scared me."

Mark smiles some looking at her, "Yeah I know, but you know you love it when I do this." He says softly leaning in close to her, kissing at her neck gently.

Kimiko closes her eyes some as he does that, a small smile plays across her lips. "Yeah...yeah..." She says softly, she opens her eyes a little and looks back at him. "You know this is the female barracks, you're going to get in trouble." She says playfully.

Mark smiles, "Yeah I know, but you know I like a little danger." He says as he pulls her tighter against him.

Kimiko moves her arms down, resting her hands on his arms. "You're such a bad boy sometimes Mark." She moves his arms away from her body some and spins around so she is facing him, she wraps her arms up around his neck as she leans in close to him. "I just don't know what I'm gonna do with you sometimes." She says as she looks lovingly into his eyes.

Mark smiles slightly looking into her eyes as lovingly, "Love me forever and never leave me." He says softly.

Kimiko looks at him, caught slightly off-guard by what he said. "Of course my love, I will always love you and never leave you." She leans in close resting her head on his chest, as she holds onto him. "I promise the nothing will ever take me away from you." She says softly.

Mark closes his eyes as he holds onto her, "I know I would die if I lost you...I can't even imagine what poor Jessica is going through..." He says softly.

Kimiko closes her eyes, "I know she's doing her best to hold it in...because she's our new wing lead...but I know this must be tearing her up inside." She says softly.

Mark nods his head some, "Yeah..." He then moves his arms from around her waist and rests his hands on her hips, he moves her back a little so he can look into her eyes. "I love you so much Kimiko." He says softly.

Kimiko blushes some looking into his eyes, "I love you too Mark." She then looks down at herself some and blushes a little more, "But if you don't mind, I would like to get dressed now."

Mark looks down some as well, "Oh yeah..." He laughs softly as he lets her go, he reaches up and scratches the back of his head some. "Well then I'll let you go about getting dressed." He says looking at her, he leans in and kisses her gently on the lips. "I'll be right outside." He says and heads off to the exit.

Kimiko kisses him back and smiles watching him as he walks out, she shakes her head some then heads over to her locker.

Meanwhile several hundred miles away in a bunker hidden within a mountain...

Echoing footsteps could be heard walking through it, the bunker itself was cavernous and was nearly empty with the exception of two aircraft. One a fighter the other a massive sky fortress, there was sparse lighting so the owner of the footsteps could not be seen clearly. The footsteps were heading towards the jet, where at the moment a mechanic was looking over the plane. The mechanic stops and looks over his shoulder hearing the person come closer, "Oh its you, you're just incredible let me tell you. Not a scratch on her and the readings from the computers showed just how much stress it can take, just keep on flying the way you have." The mechanic looks forward again looking up at the plane, "This is what one would call a rare beauty I believe." The mechanic says with a smile on his face.

The man smiles and laughs some, "Yes indeed, it handles beautifully. I felt like I was part of this amazing machine, it almost felt alive in my hands. I know bringing about a new peace will be possible with this...I will bring an end to all fighting, I will not allow this war to claim her life."

The mechanic looks back at him, "Her, huh? So you have a special someone you want to protect?" He says with a slight smile.

He looks towards the mechanic, "Yes, I love her and I don't want to see any harm come to her. Especially from me...that is why our next action has to end this war now, we are going to destroy the capital of both major countries. With their presidents and military leaders dead...they will surrender to us, then finally the two of us can be together." Alteric then steps into the light surrounding the fighter, he crosses his arms over his chest. "I just hope she can forgive me for deceiving her the way I have..."

The mechanic looks forward and nods his head, "When you bring peace to the world I'm sure she'll learn to forgive all your past deceptions and sins." He says with a slight nod.

Alteric looks at him, "Yes...I cannot allow our children to grow up during wartime, that is something I just cannot allow. Mark and Kimiko's children also deserve such a thing, once the Hammer of Light is in control there will be no more need for war."

The mechanic nods his head, "Alright, since there is no need of my service on this aircraft, I'm going to go over and see if they need any help with the sky fortress."

Alteric nods his head some, "Alright." He says as he moves closer to the plane looking up at it.

The mechanic turns and walks off to the sky fortress, when he gets there he walks up a ramp into it.

Alteric looks at the plane, "I think they all have family in the Osean capital...I will have to make arrangements to have them moved out of there, I don't want Jessica to hate me before I have the chance to reveal my true feelings to her." He says softly, he then reaches his one hand up to the plane. Slowly running his hand along the cold smooth metal of the body, "Together we shall show those who dare to oppose us, the true angel of death." He says softly as he looks at the plane.

Within the sky fortress the mechanic is stopped by a couple high ranking officers, they look at him. "Well any new news to deliver, is his loyalty still to the Hammer of Light?" The one officer asks him.

The mechanic stops and looks at them, "Yeah I say his loyalty is still intact, it should stay that way as long as nothing happens to this girl he cares about."

The officers looks at each other some then back at the mechanic, "Do you know if he has had any contact with her since he arrived here?" The same officer asks.

The mechanic shakes his head, "No, he has broken all contact with his loved ones and friends. He really wants the plan to go through so he and her can live in a world of peace."

The officers nod their heads, "Good, as long as she continues to provide no threat to our plans we do not have to kill her." The one officer says, "However if she does become a threat to our plans, we will have to kill her on the spot." The other officer says.

The mechanic scratches the back of his head some, "Well you know that Alteric will not like that, he will most likely turn on us in that moment."

The officers look at him, "Then he will force our hand and we will kill him too." The one officer says coldly, then the two of them walk off.

The mechanic sighs some looking down, he rubs the back of his head some. "Man I picked a really bad time to stop drinking..." He then walks off in a different direction of the officers.

End Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

**Ace Combat : Shadows of War**

Chapter 6

A couple days pass and there have been no more signs of Shadow Wolf or the massive sky fortress, Jessica is with the others in the briefing room. One of the higher ranked officers is standing at the front of the room, "All information that we have on this aircraft is that its codename is the X-02 Wyvern, an experimental aircraft. Thought to have been spawned from the ADFX-02 Morgan fighter used in the last war, much like the Morgan...the Wyvern has radar jamming capabilities. The Wyvern's maneuverability is unmatched from anything that we have." He says as he looks at them, "You four are the only who have engaged him in combat and have come back on your own, the fact he did not fire upon you means something. What exactly...we don't know, one idea is that he may be planning on trying to recruit you." The officer turns and walks along in front of them, "I trust that none of you would willingly join up with him and his forces." He stops and turns back towards them, "But I still must warn all of you to be careful out there, that is all, you are dismissed." He says looking at them, the four of them stand up and walk from the room.

"Recruit us...? Do you think that's what he really wants?" Andrew says walking along with them.

"I don't know..." Kimiko says softly.

Jessica is silently walking along, she's not really listening to them. Shadow Wolf's last words, 'I'm done testing you, the next time we meet I will take you down if you are not strong enough.' She looks down as she walks along, 'Alteric would never say such a thing to us...so that can't possibly be him, but where has such a pilot been hiding...' She thinks to herself, she reaches her hand up resting it on her chest. 'But that has to be him...there's no other explanation I can come up with...'

Mark looks over at Jessica, "You alright Jess?" He asks her, as he does the other two look at Jessica.

Jessica looks over at them, she then nods her head some. "Yeah...I need to...go out for a short flight, by myself." She says softly.

Andrew looks at her, "Are you sure...? It could be dangerous up there alone." He says.

Jessica looks at him, "I'm sure I'll be alright...I can't explain it right now, but I don't think he does pose any of us a threat..." She then looks forward and walks off.

The three of them stand there and watch her as she walks off, Andrew looks at Mark and Kimiko. "Do you really think she is going to be safe?"

Kimiko nods her head, "Yes, she's an excellent pilot." She says softly.

Andrew looks at her, he nods his head some. "Alright...well let's go rest, we need to be alert when Shadow Wolf reappears."

Jessica is out flying in one of the training aircraft, known for its high mobility and no weapons. She looks around as she flies along, she looks down at her fuel gauge. It is down to a little under half, she looks around more. 'Where are you...?' She thinks to herself as she looks around, she sighs looking down. She starts to turn her jet around when suddenly a jet shoots past her, she ducks her head some and looks forward as it flies away from her

It arcs around coming back towards her after traveling about 400 yards away, "I warned you girl, the next time we were to meet in my skies I would take you out of the sky." Shadow Wolf's ominous voice says over the radio.

Jessica looks forward at his jet, she looks down as she hears the warning alarm start to scream. She looks forward again, "Shadow Wolf, please you must answer one question of mine..." She looks down clutching the flight stick tightly, "...I'm ready to accept my fate, if I'm meant to die here I won't resist...but please tell me one thing." She looks forward as a tears start to roll down her cheeks, "Is that you Alteric?"

His hand falters over the trigger, he closes his eyes as his jet shoots right past her's again. He opens his eyes and reaches forward hitting a switch, "How did you figure it out?" Alteric asks softly.

Jessica's eyes go wide hearing his voice, she smiles not really trusting her voice right there. She reaches up and wipes away some of her tears, "It was more of a feeling..." She says softly, her voice breaking some.

Alteric swings his plane around deactivating the targeting system, he pulls up along next to her plane matching her airspeed. He looks over at her aircraft, "You came up here trying to find me."

Jessica looks over towards him and nods, "Yes...I knew I wouldn't stand a chance against you in a dogfight...and if I was going to be struck out of the sky...I wouldn't mind it if you were the one to do it." She says softly as more tears roll down her cheeks.

Alteric sighs softly and looks forward, 'Ah man...' He looks back over towards her, "Jessica...I could never hurt you...the simple thought of shooting at you was tearing me apart inside, that's the main reason I didn't try to fire at you four the last time we were in the air..." He says softly.

Jessica nods her head some looking forward, she looks down at her fuel gauge. "Alteric...I have to go back...I'm almost out of fuel."

Alteric looks at her then looks forward, "Follow me, there's a small abandoned airstrip controlled by my group." He pulls ahead a little and takes the lead, leading her off to the airstrip.

About five minutes later as Jessica was about to start running on fumes the two of the land at the airstrip, as they come rolling to a stop a few soldiers with assault rifles come rushing out of hanger. They rush around surrounding Jessica's jet pointing their rifles at the cockpit, Jessica looks around some. Getting frightened by the soldiers, she holds her hand up as much as the cockpit allows.

Alteric opens his cockpit and stands up taking off his helmet, "Stand down, she is no threat to us." The soldiers look over at him then lower their guns, they head back to the hanger. Alteric shakes his head some and climbs down out of the jet, he looks over towards Jessica.

Jessica slides her cockpit open and removes her helmet as she stands up, she nearly jumps out of her jet as she climbs down out of it. The moment both her feet hit the ground she is running towards Alteric, when she gets close enough she jumps onto him holding onto him by wrapping her arms around his neck.

Alteric looks at her, then slowly wraps his arms around her waist. "Jessica.." He says softly.

She looks up looking into his eyes, she slowly lowers her arms back down resting her hands on his chest. She tried to hold back her tears but she was unable too, more tears started to roll down her cheeks. She buries her face in his chest, she balls up her hands and starts to hit his chest. "Why did you leave us like that Alteric...why did you leave me...?" She asks between sobs.

Alteric closes his eyes as she does that, "I'm sorry Jessica...I just couldn't stand the thought of losing you to this damned war, I did the only thing I could think of to leave without the possibility of you getting in trouble." He says softly.

Jessica looks up at him, tears staining her cheeks. "Why didn't you take me with you..."

He reaches up and gently brushes the tears from her face, "I wanted too, more then anything...but I couldn't, it would have been too complicated if two pilots disappeared." He looks into her eyes, he then leans in closer to her. "Jessica...I love you so much, I never want to be separated from you again." He then leans in closer and kisses her gently on the lips.

Jessica's eyes go wide, then she slowly closes them as she kisses him back. She gently clutches at his shirt as they kiss.

He holds her tightly against him, he holds the kiss for several minutes before breaking it. He then looks lovingly into her eyes, "I want us to be together forever my love...I want you to join me here." He says softly.

Jessica looks at him, then looks down and away. "I can't just leave the others Alteric..." She says softly

He looks at her, "Alright my love...you can go back and think about it, but before you go there is something I want to tell you."

She looks up at him, "What is it?"

He sighs softly as he looks at her, "I want to tell you about our plans on how we will get the governments to give in to us." He then spends the next half-hour explaining everything to her.

She looks at him wide-eyed, "You can't...while I do appreciate that you will be getting my family along with Mark and Kimiko's family out of the city, you will still kill countless people..." She says softly looking down.

He looks at her, he reaches to her and gently lifts her head up by her chin. "Listen my love, this is something that has got to be done..." He then looks out the hanger door, "Well they should have your plane all fueled up..." He looks back at her as he hands her a piece of paper, "Tell them you went to this airstrip, I have a man in communications there."

She looks at him, she slowly nods her head looking at the paper. She then looks back up at him, "Will I see you again?"

He looks at her and gently caresses her cheek, "Of course my love, if you do decide to come back to me, then we can be together that way...if not...then it's up to the fates." He leans in close to her and kisses her gently on the cheek, "Just do one thing for me...survive, I want you to survive...because I want to marry you." He whispers into her ear.

Her eyes go wide and her faces turns a bright shade of red, she looks up at him and smiles. "Of course...I'll survive for you, because I will say yes when you ask." She says softly.

Alteric smiles hearing her, "Good, I must also ask you not reveal any of this to the others either, I mean I know I can trust Mark and Kimiko...but I don't trust Andrew."

Jessica looks down, "There is something you should know my love...well Andrew...tried to hit on me..."

He looks at her, he moves his one hand to her and gently rests his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright Jessica, you are a very beautiful young woman. I would be surprised if someone didn't try to hit on you." He then reaches down to his one pocket and pulls out a thin cd case, he holds it out to her. "The pass code is Morgan."

She looks at him and takes the cd case, she looks at it for a moment then back up at him. "What is it?"

"Something I want you to see." He says softly, he then pulls her in close and hugs her. "I'll see you later love." He whispers into her ear.

She hugs him back, after letting go she moves back over to her jet. As she gets into it and gets her engine fired up she looks over at Alteric, she waves to him slightly.

Alteric waves back to her.

Jessica looks forward as she pushes the throttle forward, her jet moves forward and she pulls back on the flight stick pulling up into the air. As she makes her way back she looks down at the cd, 'I wonder what is on this...' She thinks to herself, she then slides the cd case into a pocket on her flight suit.

Jessica is sitting on her bed, wearing a light bath robe. Her damp hair hanging down over her shoulders, she was looking at the cd case. "Well maybe I should take a look at this." She says to herself softly as she moves over to her desk, she pushes the button to open the cd drive on her computer. She then takes the cd out of its case and places it onto the drive drawer, she closes it and waits for it to boot up. She sits there thinking for a moment, 'Morgan...that's an unusual password, I wonder if that was the name of someone he knew...' She thinks to herself, she then looks at the screen as she types in the password. Just before hitting the enter key she remembered something, 'Wait a second...Morgan is the codename of that one jet..." She says to herself, she then presses the enter button. She can hear the cd drive start to spin and the computer start to run, files and images flash up on the screen. She looks over the files reading some of them some, she looks over some of the photos. Her hand freezes on the mouse when seeing one image, her eyes go wide and she moves her hand up over her mouth. "Oh my god...could it really be...?" She says softly.

End Chapter 6


	7. Final Chapter

**Ace Combat : Shadows of War**

Final Chapter

As Jessica was searching through the contents of the cd she comes across an audio file, she looks at it for a moment before scrolling the mouse over it and clicking on it.

It takes the computer a moment to launch a proper audio device to play it, as it starts up the first five seconds of it are silence. Then a voice could be heard, "This is Alteric Jeske, if you are listening to this one of two things has happened. You either found this among the remains of my dead body and managed to have the code, my congratulations it that is the case. The other thing is you are someone that I trust with my life, well with either case there is a tale I must pass on to you." There is a moment of silence and a small noise that sounds like Alteric clearing his throat, "During the last great war ten years ago, there was a lone mercenary pilot that went by the codename Demon Lord. That mercenary pilot was me, though the name demon lord was not originally mine. Though it will probably be lost in the history books, my original codename was Beowulf. I earned the codename Demon Lord as I swept across the skies, destroying all who opposed me and the forces of Osea." There is another few moments of silence, joined by with a small laugh. "I still cannot believe it has been ten years, I really was starting to believe that I would not have to participate in anymore wars for Osea. When I first agreed to rejoin the air force I thought I did it a little hastily..." There is silence for several moments, "...but that was until I met her, the her is a young woman named Jessica Meyer. She is one of the only good people in this war, her heart is too kind to be caught up in this conflict. That is why I have taken it upon myself to end this war by any means, if I fail I have to apologize to Jessica...and I hope she can find true happiness..." There is silence and the audio file ends.

Jessica smiles as a couple tears roll down her cheeks, she closes her eyes. "I will find happiness when we are finally able to be together..." She says softly, she then opens her eyes looking at the monitor. She looks lovingly at a picture with him in it, she reaches up and gently wipes away her tears. "He has always been so handsome." She says softly looking at the picture, she spends the rest of the night looking over all the pictures and files.

There is a knock at her door, she looks over at it and slowly stands up. When she gets to it she unlocks it, when she pulls it open she can see Andrew standing there.

Andrew looks at her, "Hey...what did you do, stay up all night?" He asks looking at her.

Jessica nods her head some, "Yeah...I..couldn't sleep last night.." She says softly, she decides to keep the fact that she met Alteric from him.

""So where did you disappear off to for so long?" He asks looking at her.

She looks down some, "Its all in my report, you can read it in there."

Andrew sighs some looking at her, he slowly reaches towards her face.

Jessica takes a step back moving her head away from his hand, "Please...don't.." She says softly.

He slowly lowers his hand down, "Alright...well I just came to tell you that command has given us the day off."

She nods head some, "Alright...thank you.." She then slowly closes the door, she turns around and leans up against the door closing her eyes. 'If Alteric hadn't shown himself...I may have given in to Andrew's advances by now...' She thinks to herself.

Jessica is walking down the hallway holding onto the cd case, she comes to a doorway and knocks on it. She looks around some as she stands there, waiting for the person on the other side of the door to open it.

When the door opens she can see Mark standing there, he looks at her. "Ah hello Jessica...is something wrong?"

She shakes her head, "No...is Kimiko here too?"

Mark nods his head and steps off to the side, Kimiko could be seen sitting on the bed. She looks over at Jessica, a questioning look on her face.

"Can I come in? I need to show the two of you something." Jessica asks softly.

Mark nods his head, "Sure, come on in."

Jessica moves into the room, "What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room."

Mark looks at her as he closes the door, "Alright, you've got my word that I won't tell anyone."

Kimiko nods her head, "Yeah, I promise whatever you tell us won't leave this room."

Jessica looks at them, "Alright...first things...Alteric is still alive.."

Mark and Kimiko look at her, "What..? Really?" They both say at the same time.

Jessica nods her head, "Yeah...I was surprised to find out too, well lets get to this." She says holding up the cd case, she moves over to their computer and slides the cd into it.

After Jessica showed them everything on the cd the two of them were left silent, "I can't believe it...we were flying alongside Demon Lord all this time, no wonder he felt so powerful..." Mark says softly looking at the screen.

Kimiko looks at Jessica, looking like she is near crying. She moves in close to Jessica quickly and hugs her, "You are so lucky to have a guy as great as Alteric interested in you, now if only he was more open with his feelings towards you like my guy is towards me." She says softly.

Jessica smiles some hugging her back, "Yeah I know...once this war is over we will be able to be together." She says softly.

Kimiko looks at her and nods her head, "Yeah...whenever this war be over...however, is anyone's guess." She says softly.

"I know...and the waiting is going to kill me.." Jessica says softly.

Kimiko looks at her and hugs her tightly, "Well you have Mark and me here to help you."

Jessica smiles hugging her back, "Thank you both so much." She says softly.

Mark smiles looking at her, he slowly reaches to her. Resting his hand on her back, "Of course Jessica, we would do anything for you." He says softly.

Jessica looks over at Mark and smiles, "Thank you."

Less then a full day later Jessica is woken up by the blaring air raid siren, she sits up and rubs her eyes some. She looks over at the window, she can see that it is dark outside. "What's going on...?" She says tiredly, she moves the blankets off herself and gets up out of bed. A short while later after she was dressed, she heads outside. She looks around some as she sees other pilots running towards the main courtyard, she heads off towards the main courtyard too. When she gets there she finds that Kimiko, Mark and Andrew are already there. She looks down some, 'This feels all too familiar..." she says softly to herself, she looks up as she gets by the other three.

Before she can even ask about what's going on, the base commander moves up onto the stage. "There is a massive aircraft heading towards this base, we do not know if they intend to attack us. However we are not taking any risks, everyone will be sent up immediately. Everyone dismissed."

Jessica, Kimiko, Mark and Andrew all run towards their hanger. Jessica looks at the others, "That must be the air fortress."

Mark nods his head, "Yeah but why would they be passing over our base..."

Jessica looks at him then forward, she stops suddenly her eyes going wide. She looks at the others, "I think I know what they have in mind...we must hurry." She says as she starts running again.

By the time they get suited up and out onto the runway the air fortress is already over the base, as it flies overhead, the small unmanned fighters fly around it.

The four of them look up at it as it flies overhead, Jessica looks forward and pushes her throttle forward. Her jet rushes down the runway and takes off into the sky, the other three follow her. "Everyone keep your eyes open and don't let those drones get on your tail." Jessica calls out to all fighters.

Everyone calls out roger as they all head in closer to the sky fortress, the unmanned drones moving to engage them. As the two sides engage in combat, it doesn't take long until bullets and missiles can be seen streaking across the sky.

After nearly a half hour of fighting leaves both sides with losses, but the air fortress has lost over 80 percent of its unmanned drones. While the Osean forces have only suffered 30 percent losses.

Shadow Wolf's fighter is lowered from its hanger, "Engage them now Shadow Wolf, you must buy us a few more minutes." Alteric opens his eyes as he hears the voice, "Roger...I shall give you the time you need." He reaches to the flight stick grabbing onto it, "Shadow Wolf engaging." His jet drops from the holder and he pushes forward on the throttle, his engines roar to life and he barrel rolls straightening himself out. He pulls his jet around heading towards the Osean forces.

Jessica looks at Alteric as he flies towards them, 'I should have taken up his offer, that way I could be flying at his side right now...instead of against him...' She thinks to herself, she looks at the other three some, then forward. "Kaizer Squadron engage...target that sky fortress."

The three of them look at her some, "Roger that." They call out, the four of them push their throttles forward.

Alteric flies forward, shooting past the four of them. He narrows his eyes some as he targets a nearby Osean fighter, he flies in close and fires off his gun. Clipping the one tail flap, doing enough damage to force him to return to base. Alteric continues to fly around disabling all the other fighters.

A few minutes later the sky fortress reaches its mark, "We have reached our mark, launching missiles now." Two large missile bays on top of the sky fortress open up, then two large cruise missile looking missiles take off from it.

Jessica, Kimiko, Mark and Andrew all try to get to the missiles to take them out, but a combination of AA Guns and SAM missiles keep them from them. Jessica pulls away from the sky fortress looking up at the missiles, unable to do anything about them. She then looks over towards Alteric, "Alteric, please I know you can do something about those missiles."

Alteric looks over at her and deactivates the voice shifter, "Jessica I already explained to you, this has to happen. The death of a few will prevent the death of many."

Andrew looks over towards Alteric's jet, "So you really are alive.." He says softly.

Jessica's hand clutches the flight stick tightly, "No Alteric, I know you really don't really believe that..." She says softly looking down, "Please you must stop those missiles...those people never did anything wrong...yet you are going to punish them." She says softly.

Alteric looks over at her as he flies, "Jessica..."

The officers on the main bridge of the sky fortress look at each other, then they look over at the weapons controller. "Target that woman's fighter, bring her down now." The one man says to the young man sitting there, the young man looks back at him. He nods his head, "Yes sir." He looks back at his controls and targets Jessica's fighter, when he gets a full lock he fires off some SAM missiles at her.

Jessica looks back quickly hearing the missile warning, she looks forward as she punches her throttle to full. She arcs upwards into the sky, she starts dropping chaff. "Alteric...please you must stop those missiles...don't let those innocent people die..." She says as the missiles draw in closer to her, her chaff stop all the missiles but one. The missiles comes up behind her and strikes her engines, she lets out a small cry as she holds onto the flight stick tightly as he plane started to plummet to the ground.

Alteric watches helplessly as Jessica does her best to outrun the missiles, "Jessica!" He yells out when he sees her fighter hit, he looks down clutching his hand tightly. He sits this way for a few moments, he then slowly looks up he reaches forward and starts to key in something into the keypad in his fighter.

"What are you doing Shadow Wolf?" One of the soldiers on the sky fortress asks him, upon hearing this the two officers look over at the soldier. "What is he doing?" The soldier looks over at them, "I'm not sure sir...it looks like he is activating the auto-destruct code for the missiles." The officers look at each other then back at the weapons controller, "Quick bring him down."

Alteric soon finishes keying in the code, he then looks over at the sky fortress. "I already know you are targeting me and you can try,, but I will make you pay for what you have done to my love." He hits the enter key then high above the clouds two massive explosions can be seen, momentarily turning the night into day. He grips his flight stick tightly and pushes his throttle forward, just as all the SAMs on that side of the sky fortress fire at him.

The two officers clutch their hands tightly, "Damnit...get the next set of missiles ready." One of the soldiers nod his head, "Roger sir." Deep within the sky fortress, a second set of missiles are loading into the launchers.

Alteric cuts around the missiles, the missiles try fruitlessly to lock onto him. "You'll never hit me with those." He calls out as he darts around the missiles, he lets loose one of his cluster bomb missiles. It strikes the side of the sky fortress, wiping out all the SAMs and AAs on one side of the sky fortress. He pulls up shooting around behind the sky fortress, SAM launchers and AA guns fire upon him.

"Sir, he's moved around behind us." The radar man says, the officers look over at him. "What?! No he's going to try and take out our engines! Launch all unmanned fighter now!" The one officer yells out.

Alteric pulls his fighter around, he looks ahead seeing all the unmanned fighters. "Those won't stop me!" He yells out as he fires off another cluster bomb missile, the missile hits around the center of the group, wiping out over 75 percent of the drones. He punches forward.

Deep within the sky fortress the mechanic is looking at the wiring console, he sighs some rubbing the back of his head. "Well I guess this is one debt I won't be able to collect on." He takes a tight grip on the large monkey wrench in his hands, "I just hope you can live together in happiness with that girl you told me about old friend." He then raises his arm up and drives the wrench into the panel, he turns his head covering his face with his other hand as sparks fly from it. He hits a few more times before lowering his arm back down, he looks at it as sparks flash off it. He sighs some and tosses the wrench off to the side, "That should blind them some...alright old friend, blow this monstrosity out of the sky." He says softly as he reaches to his one pocket, pulling out a small flask with whiskey in it.

A couple of the soldiers on the bridge let out surprised cries, "What's going on?" One of the officers ask, "I don't know sir, all my systems just crashed..." One of them say, "So did mine..." The others cry out.

Alteric releases his last two cluster missiles, the two missiles arc towards the sky fortress and slam into the engines. The engines falter and start to die, Alteric looks at them and narrows his eyes. "I will strike you out of the sky!" He yells out as he hits his throttle to full, activating his afterburner.

The three of them look up, they watch as Alteric attacks the engine. Then watch as he then hits his plane to full, they watch helplessly as his jet slams into the engines. Killing the engines completely, black smoke starts to billow out of the engines. The massive aircraft starts to fall from the sky, small series of explosions ripple throughout the sky fortress. It keeps falling until it slams into the side of a mountain, it erupts in a massive explosion. Turning night into day once again, for a longer period of time. They look away from the blast, after it clears they look around some. Mark then radios back to base, "This is Kaizer wing, we have successfully taken down the sky fortress. We have two friendlies down, send rescue at once."

"Roger that Kaizer Wing, sending rescue now. The rest of you RTB immediately." The tower says to them.

Mark looks at the other two some, "Roger that...Kaizer wing returning to base now."

As Jessica slowly opens her eyes, all she can hear is a light beeping sound. She looks around some as she opens her eyes a little more, she soon realizes that she is in a hospital room. "What happened...where am I?" She asks softly, she tries to sit up but lets out a small cry falling back to the bed, as a sharp pain kicks up in her side.

"You shouldn't try to move, you'll just end up hurting yourself more." Kimiko says walking from the door over to her bed, she sits down in a seat next to the bed.

Jessica looks over at her, "Kimiko...what happened?"

Kimiko looks at her as she reaches over and rests her hand on Jessica's hand, "Well after you were hit you managed to bail out before hitting the ground...but you still hit the ground hard, your right arm is sprained and you bruised a couple ribs."

Jessica nods her head some, looking up at the ceiling. She then looks around some, "Where's Alteric?" She asks softly looking at Kimiko.

Kimiko looks down closing her eyes a little.

Jessica's eyes go wide, "No...please no...don't tell me he's gone.." She says softly as a tear rolls down her cheek.

Kimiko looks at her and shakes her head, "No...but the doctors don't know if he is going to make it though..."

Jessica looks at her, "W...What...? Where is he?"

Kimiko slowly stands up and moves around the bed, she moves over to a hanging curtain and slowly slides it back. As she moves it back Jessica can see Alteric laying in a bed, the monitors next to the bed letting out a low beeping noise.

Jessica sits up slowly, closing her eyes pushing through the pain. She opens her eyes looking at him, "Alteric..." She says softly, she then looks at Kimiko. "What happened to him?"

Kimiko moves over to her sitting down next to her bed, "He fired off a couple of his cluster bomb missiles into the engine of the sky fortress, then slammed his jet into it. We all thought that he had sacrificed himself to bring it down, but we later found out that he had actually bailed out. However he bailed out too late and when his jet slammed into the sky fortress, the explosion knocked him out. The doctors think he woke up enough to pull his parachute cord, but he was so close to the ground that it only minorly slowed his fall." She then looks down some, "Upon hitting the ground he broke his right arm, both his legs and nearly all his ribs, he had a lot of blood in his lungs. The doctors did what they could...they say its up to him if he survives..." She says softly.

Jessica starts to move her legs over the edge of the bed.

Kimiko stands up and stops her, "No, stay in bed. You'll make yourself worse."

Jessica looks at her, "I don't care, he needs to know I'm here for him...he has to live." She says looking at him, as tears start to roll down her cheeks.

Kimiko looks at her and sighs some, "Alright, but stay in bed...I'll roll his bed over closer to your's."

Jessica looks at her, "A...Alright.." She says softly laying back on the bed.

Kimiko moves over to Alteric's bed, she crouches some reaching under it. She releases the wheel brake and starts to move it over closer to Jessica's bed, she stops a little over half way. When she sees the wires and plugs start to get pulled too much, she looks over at Jessica. "This is as close as I can get him...I'll have to move you bed too." She crouches down and locks the wheels.

Jessica looks over at her and slowly nods her head.

Kimiko moves over to Jessica's bed and does the same for her bed, she then carefully moves Alteric's hand over some. "I moved his hand closer so you can hold onto his hand."

Jessica looks over seeing what she was talking about, she then carefully takes hold of his hand. "Thank you Kimiko.." She says softly closing her eyes.

Over the next few weeks Jessica's condition became better, while Alteric's stayed pretty much the same. Jessica spent most of her waking hours talking to Alteric, talking about whatever she could think about talking about. She was hoping that her voice would get through to him, hoping to wake him.

One day Jessica is talking to him, sitting on a seat holding onto his one hand with both her hands. "When you wake up we can start planning for our family, so you have to wake up soon..." She leans forward resting her head on his arm, "I was thinking that we have at least one daughter and one son. What do you think?" She asks softly.

"I think it sounds like a good idea..." Alteric says softly, as his eyes slowly drift open.

Jessica sits up suddenly looking at him, "Alteric! You're awake!" She cries out excitedly, as she moves up closer to him hugging him.

Alteric closes his eyes letting out a soft pained moan, he gently wraps his arms around her. "Of course and I've heard every word of what you said, you helped me to stay grounded in this world." He says softly.

Jessica looks at him, "R..Really?" She asks softly.

He nods his head some, "Yes, I loved hearing your voice. I also cannot wait till we get married."

A red tint goes across her cheeks, she smiles and kisses him deeply on the lips.

He closes his eyes kissing her back as deeply, he holds the kiss for several moments before breaking it. "I love you so much Jessica, I will never leave you." He whispers into her ear.

Jessica smiles as she closes her eyes resting her head on his chest, "I love you so much too Alteric, I will always remain at your side as long as you'll have me." She murmurs softly.

He smiles as he gently kisses her forehead, "Then we will be together forever."

Thirteen Years Later

Alteric and Jessica are standing out in front of the hanger their squadron called home for several months, so many years ago. Alteric looks up at the sky some, Jessica looks over at him.

"So how are you feeling today ya old war dog?" She asks with a slight smile on her face.

Alteric looks over at her, "Well truthfully, quite good." He reaches to her and gently takes her hand into his, as he does that the sunlight flashes off the golden bands on their fingers.

Less then a couple months after the fall of the sky fortress the Yuketebonia forces surrendered completely, their statement was... "Anyone who has pilots that could take down such a powerful aircraft, is one we don't want to be enemies with." The world has known only peace because of that fateful night, as one could guess Alteric and Jessica got married. Thirteen years to the day, he proposed to her in the hospital. The very day after hearing the news about Yuketebonia's surrender, he told her the day that they both can leave the hospital is the day they can get married. Less then three months after he told her that, after working with every last bit of his energy everyday. Jessica and him were married, the two of them have lived together in total happiness.

Jessica smiles looking up at him, "I am glad to hear that my love." She whispers softly.

As they are standing there a young girl, who looks to be about 11 years old. She runs right up to them, she jumps up onto Alteric wrapping her arms around her neck.

Alteric looks at her and smiles as he gently wraps his arms around her, holding her up. "So are you and your brother having fun exploring around Mommy and Daddy's old base?"

She smiles looking up at him, "Yeah, so was this where you and mommy first met?"

Alteric nods his head, "Yes it was darlin', this hanger here was where our jets were stored at." He says looking at the hanger.

She looks up at him, then over at the hanger. "Wow." She says looking up some.

Alteric looks at her and smiles, he leans in and kisses her gently on the forehead. "So where is your brother at Heather?"

Heather looks up at him, "He's over by the car."

Alteric and Jessica look over towards the car, as they do a boy who looks to be about 8 comes running over towards them. "Mommy...Daddy, can we go now?" He asks as he stops in front of them.

Alteric looks at him and smiles some, "Why you in such a hurry to leave Matthew?"

Matthew looks up at them tilting his head some, "I want to go play with Sasha."

Alteric smiles some hearing him, "Oh so you want to go play with Uncle Mark and Aunt Kimiko's child?" He then nods his head some, "Alright then, lets get going then."

Mark and Kimiko got married shortly after Alteric and Jessica did, they also had a daughter. Who is 9 years old. After the war ended and Kaizer wing disbanded Andrew went off on his own, he hasn't been heard from since then. It is unknown weither or not he's alive or dead.

Alteric gently sets Heather back down, "Alright then, lets get going."

Jessica looks at him and nods her head, she takes hold of his hand. Then the three of them head back to the car.

Once all of them are in the car Alteric gets into the driver's seat, he looks at them. "Alright, if everyone is buckled in, we'll be on our way." He waits until they have all buckled up, then he buckles up his seatbelt. He slides the key into the ignition and starts up the car, he then drives from the base back onto the main road. The four of them drive off to Mark and Kimiko's house.

End


End file.
